Area Champs: Mission Accomplished!

AEC's HERE WE COME!!!! (Well... shhhhh.... assuming we stay sound and capable until then!, but...we are QUALIFIED!!!!!!!). 

Finally... this has been 4 years in the making.... 5? Back in 2017 I think is when we were set to go and Dan got hung in the hay net 2 weeks before. Then the next year we were rehabbing still. Then the year after that we qualified as far as getting our first place but couldn't get the third clear run. Then the year after that it was the same thing, only to add insult to injury, Dan flung me off over the first fence and I dislocated my finger tip. Sigh. So, FINALLY!!!! Granted, it's Beginner Novice... not Novice... not training.... But still. AECs!!!!

We qualified for Area 3 Regional championships, so I figured this could be my third clean run. And why not? I'm qualified... we stood a chance of being competitive. So we did! I swapped some patients around and even managed to get Thursday off along with Friday! They ran BN Friday and Saturday for some reason, which was actually kind of nice. And, because it was at Stableview... I was able to get Dan a paddock. That was a little ordeal in of itself, but... alls well that ended well.. I got luxury stabling with a paddock! 

I was mostly packed on Tuesday and Wednesday and didn't have that much left to do Thursday morning. But there was stuff to do. Good thing because when I fed... Fleck got halfway through his food and stopped eating. And pawed. And looked at his belly. Oh man, Flecky!!! Luckily he was quite gurgly and then as I was giving him a half dose of banamine, he pooped a normal poo pile and then farted. So I put him in the cross ties and bemered him... and let his banamine kick in. And watched him fart a few more times. He seemed to settle so I turned him out and finished packing. By the time I was done and only had bathing Dan left, Fleck was grazing happily. Knowing him as well as I do, I figured he would be fine. So I bathed Dan and off we went. We got to Stableview with no issues, but once we got there.... sigh. I was a little aggravated at first but... it wasn't that bad. I was just cranky. I found his stall easily enough. And while we were in the workshed, which doesn't have any plugs for fans and is a bit stuffy, he got a good stall. It was perfect actually. He was in the middle row, at the end by the door, so he caught a little breeze and only had one horse he could harass. And they had put big floor fans out but... it was still stuffy. I tried to find his paddock, and... that was my fault. They had a map taped up on the wall, but I didn't pay as much attention and also suck at reading maps, so... I walked around a lot and missed it. And then... they didn't have a map for the camper spots. So... I went to the office to ask. And the office was closed til 3. So they sent me to the other office... which then sent me back to the regular office, which was now open and had about 15 people in line. Sigh... I was getting super aggravated as it was moving very slowly. I think I stood in line for about 1 hour. Which was extra maddening because I still hadn't found my paddock... parked my rig.... no shade... I should have just cut and asked them if they had it posted because once I finally got up to the window, she called someone to show me my spot. (I also had to get my packets though, so.... it was fine). Turns out.. .my camper spot was literally right there in front of the show office. Seriously!?!? Ugh. But whatever, I was just grateful to get Dan in a paddock (they also showed me the paddock) and then get the trailer hooked up and get the AC running. Then it was time to ride. I had a good schooling ride with Jacel. He was a little spicy but not bad. We rode in the grass area that backs up to XC. I asked Jacel if I should sit or post and she watched him go and said that she thought sitting because he was more connected and through that way. Then we worked on the halt through the walk. She showed me a cool trick. When I ask for the downward, she told me to slightly lift my seat and push it back. This tells Dan to do a downward without making him slam on the brakes. It was pretty handy. So we played with that. Then she helped me get him rounder by reminding me to push his barrel out in the corners. After that, we were done but I wanted to play a little on my own with the downward transition thing, so we moved over a bit and played. And Dan got sassy and tried to "bolt" a few times. Goober. But we managed to play a bit more. Then he got a rinse and got turned out again after dinner. He was happy. I went and walked XC which was .... tiny! I mean, really... it looked tiny. The first half of the course was seriously small! It was disappointing really. BUT... there was some serious terrain questions, so... at least there was that. And yay for those fences looking tiny when a few months ago, they looked bigger to me! Honestly, this weekend I felt like we could have easily gone around the novice course and even have done some of the training fences! Anyways... it was a LONG course with a big stretch that allowed a gallop. Yay for Dan! The second half of the course was a bit more solid but even still, not very big. The only difference between us and the regular HT division was fence 10. We had a coop to a narrow shallow ditch and they just had a roll top. sigh. Oh well. I know it's hard to make too many differences when you're also running a regular horse trail and BN to intermediate. So... the course looked fun and like it would be easy. Although I knew not to take it for granted. Then I ate some dinner - chips and salsa! And watched the sunset and welcomed the full moon and cleaned all my tack. Then a shower and bed. I didn't sleep great though... that first night is always tough. 

Dan's digging his digs!

Friday rolled around bright and early. Dressage and XC Day! All the riders showing up woke me up before the crack of dawn, but... that's okay. I got Dan fed and got myself settled. I had a long wait til dressage at 1:34 or something, but... I had things to do. Dan stayed turned out for most of the morning. Then he got another bath, although he wasn't that dirty. Then he got braided. He was actually pretty good for it. I tried to bemer him while we did it, but it was too hot! Even with the fan blowing on us. (I did all the grooming and tacking at the trailer and since we had the hook up, we plugged the fan in and had it blowing on us). His braids turned out decently. And then.... I decided to just get on. It was a little earlier, but... it was either that or... leave him tied to the trailer for 30 minutes or risk turning him out or putting him in his stall and having him mess up his braids. I did put him in his stall for a bit so I could change into my riding clothes and use the potty. But then I sort of panicked and got ready too soon. But I figured we could hack around and warm up. So we did. We walked around a bit and then we went to the grassy area and started warming up. We had a decent warm up and I ran through the test once and it was quite lovely. I even thought to myself "Dang, too bad they couldn't have judged this". We were doing a few other things, but... I still had over an hour until my ride time!!! Whooops! One of the arena stewards came running over asking what number I was and I felt bad that I didn't go check in. So... I rode a bit more and then decided to go check in and let them know I was here. And maybe we could ride in the covered and not be as hot. So we went. And... it went downhill from there. He got all riled up again. It was the same thing as before.... basically bolting, spinning, leaping....  I kept trying to work him through it but it was so crowded and people are doing circles and movements and it's hard to know where to go. And I didn't want to upset anyone else. So we tried sitting in the corner for a bit. We basically went from running around to sitting to running to sitting for the next 45 minutes. I tried one last time before it was close to our turn and he basically bolted.... I was like "it's fine... we're just canter lengthening" as I'm half halting the snot out of him. Sigh... Oh well. Then it was finally our turn. I think I was sort of expecting him to turn it on, like he always does. But this time he didn't. He was not paying attention to me. He was spooky and jumpy and braced. He would do half of the circle at normal pace, then speed up the second half, then the long side was slow. He did all of the things... and in all the right places, but he wasn't showing off. So it was mediocre. If that. And down the final long side he spooked and squirted a few strides because the girl entering the area to do her test was cantering up our backsides. Which... is a little annoying... cause seriously!? But at the same time... that shouldn't really bother Dan. So... that was disappointing. We ended up with a 34.8, which... for us... is awful. It put us in 9th of 19 or so. The judging was pretty tough over the weekend, but still... I felt like that was a pretty accurate score for what we brought forth, if not a little generous. There was a small win though... because the judge wrote "charming pair.... you win best turn out of the day". Ha ha. Yay! Unless that was the only nice thing she could say. ;) 

So... oh well. I hosed him off and pulled his braids and then let him chill for a bit. I had already walked XC that morning and tried to occupy my time by watching some friends and then visiting vendor row. And then suddenly it was time to get ready! But oh yeah... I wanted my helmet cam! Dangit... I didn't think I had enough time and I didn't want to be panicked. So... I didn't use it. I really wish I had. They were running a bit behind on XC so I would have had plenty of time. oh well. Dan was good and warmed up super and was pretty much on point, so... off we went. He wasn't wild in warm up, but... I knew it was coming. He started out of the box and was going!! He basically turned into a heat seeking missile and I just aimed him at fences! I probably could have aimed him at the modified and he would have gone! He was game!! He flew over everything. And granted, everything was pretty small but there was some serious terrain questions and one or two fences that could have been a little looky. Nope! Not for Dan. He just sailed over everything. I don't think I could have stopped him. hee hee. We got through the first 5 or 6 fences quickly and then there was the gallop stretch. Okay... I can't stop you anyways, but you at least have to balance down the hill. Then I had to balance him for the fences which came up quick. Then he landed, spooked at the photographer and rocketed up the hill! He almost galloped through the next tiny fence and I finally was able to get him somewhat back. At that point I realized we were definitely going to get speeding tickets... and for the life of me... I don't know why I didn't check the rules, knowing full well he was going to be too fast....  I managed to somewhat contain the madness and he flew right over the ditch. Again, I think he barely saw it he was going so fast. I did manage to get him collected to a fast canter for the last quarter of the course and despite attempting to 3rd level collected canter him to the last fence.. we still came in way too hot and got speeding tickets. Oh well. We had fun and our dressage was mediocre to begin with. And the goal... the whole goal.. was to finish with no XC jump penalties! So.... almost there!!!! We just had to finish tomorrow.... and not get eliminated in stadium! Whooo hooo!!! It was super fun though. And Dan was ready to run a second time. I walked him back and he didn't want to go back. He pranced around a bit. He got another rinse and a bemer. I was going to ice him, but honestly... he was getting edgy again and I figured he wouldn't stand still and I would just yell at him. And I'm still a little scared of him acting up. I didn't want to poultice and wrap him either because I wanted to turn him out. So... I just put liniment on him and hoped that was enough. Honestly, he probably didn't work as hard as he does when we go schooling. But I still felt a little bad. He was happy to get turned out again. I even fed him out there. I had dinner, got my jump tack cleaned again and got ready for the next day. And I slept great too! 

(photo credits of the ditch combo to Chris Quin!)

Saturday morning was another early morning. Jacel wanted to walk stadium at 6:30 am because we didn't get to walk it Friday. I got Dan fed and then headed over to stadium. It was a fun course. Again, a little disappointing... I thought it looked mildly on the small side, although it did seem to be more appropriately sized the second half.... and then Jacel told me it was set for Novice. OOOPS! Well dang! I cheered on some others... brought Dan inside because it was getting super hot and muggy. I packed up a good bit of my stuff so I could be ready to head home after we jumped. I even got Nancy to fix my saddle billet keepers. Yay! And then finally it was time to jump. I decided that since with our speeding tickets we had dropped to 12th place... I wasn't braiding nor was I wearing my coat. I looked nice though! We matched and he was clean. I bathed him again. We warmed up nicely in the arena although I was sort of wishing I had put on my big spurs. He wasn't behind my leg but he wasn't a fire breathing dragon. But no worries. We went in and had a lovely round!!! It might have been one of our better rounds! The only issue we had is that I got him a little deep to the final 2 stride, so I had to push for the 2 and it was a bit long. But he went and went clean! YAHOOO!!! So we finished in 10th place. (We would have finished 7th without speeding tickets and they only ribboned to 6th, so.. no worries). What a good boy!!! 

Onward and upward! Novice it is.... and then hopefully we'll do better at BN AECs!!! 

Jumping Beans!

 I'm so proud of us!!! And so grateful! I think a lot of Dan's and my confidence struggles were secondary to pain and discomfort, but... there's also the confidence/mental aspect. But now that he feels good.. he's back!!!  And when he feels good.. he's confident, which makes me confident. It's a great feeling!

We jumped today because we haven't jumped since Chatt and we're showing at Area 3 Championships this weekend. It's just Beginner Novice, but still. I want to be competitive. So we did a lesson at Chatt. It was raining all morning and looked very ominous on our way to Ashland, but... the skies cleared up and it was beautiful for our lesson. Hot and muggy, but beautiful! It was a great lesson. We warmed up over a cross rail and then she made it a vertical. Dan was on fire and ready to go. No more need to use the whips or spurs or "shock and awe" even! He's in front of my leg and happy to be there. Then she had us do a little roll back turn and told me to use my inside leg and then move my hands over (both hands the same time same way) and then turn my body... like almost pivot my body. And hey.... that's a handy dandy roll back turn we've got there. I asked on the second one we tried if I needed to use my outside leg and she was like "yes, of course" and I said "oh, so like a turn on the haunches". She laughed and said yes, but.... "can you imagine what you would have done had I told you to do a turn on the haunches?" ha ha... touche!! Touche! But she's right. I would have dressaged it up and made it awful. But this is handy! Almost too handy. Like, our big swooping turn turned into a tight handy little roll back, but... because he was packaged and bringing his inside hind leg up and underneath himself, we could bounce right over the fence! Way cool!

 

So then she sent us over a course. We did it 4 times.. the first two they were set smaller and the second two she made the oxers bigger and wider, because... stableview. And he was super! I messed up some and tipped up his neck a time or two, but... guess what?! He didn't stop!! Granted, I still need to stay upright and not tip because that's what makes him nervous and undermines his confidence. But yay for having money in the bank! And I was even able to sit up and back but push him to the bigger stride and he went for it. YAY! Such a fun feeling. We're back! 

We quit with that as we are showing and didn't want to over do it. We stayed and watched Courtney and Romeo a bit and then we hacked down to the lake. Again, he didn't even want to get his toes wet??? Maybe it's no fun when it's not a party? Maybe he misses Sissy? But we had a nice hack back to the trailer and a nice rinse. oh, and... weirdo! He stopped to lick the dirt again and made a giant mess this time. Hee hee... So weird!

Tomorrow I probably won't get to ride, but I did get a LOT of packing done today. And then Thursday we'll leave for Aiken. We'll dressage there and then Friday is dressage and XC and then Saturday is stadium. :) I am excited!

Sneak Ride

 So... today I had to work on the foxhunters. I normally do about 6-8 and then go to do another horse at another farm, not really close to them, but... not really close to me either and at least in the same vicinity. But then they told me they had 11 horses for me!!! 11!!!! So I told the other girl that there was no way I could come do her horse too. I told her I'd try to find another day, or maybe I could sneak over while I'm at the horse show this weekend. She's basically close to Aiken. So... when I got to the foxhunters barn, they told me that they only had 9 for me. So yay! I managed to get all 9 done by 3 pm, but it was still a two hour drive home. So... I decided that I was going to stick to my original plan and not go do the other horse. It would be one thing if it was just the one more horse, but it was also 45 min away, so add almost 2 hours to my day. And...because of the neck injections, I didn't get to ride all weekend... and the weather for Tuesday was a bit sketchy, so.... darn it, I went home and rode!! And I'm so glad I did.

 

I looked at the arena and it wasn't too wet. No standing water, but I figured it still might be sloppy. Plus, I felt like Dan might need a gallop so he didn't feel the need to gallop at the horse show... Well, not gallop before he was supposed to gallop on XC! So we went to Ashland. It was lovely out! There was a storm brewing so we got a nice crisp breeze and the humidity dropped. And luckily, the storm didn't hit us and we were able to enjoy our entire ride. :) YAY!

 

We did a quick hack to warm up and as we hit the double lake dam, the heron burst out of the edge and flew off. I almost got a photo of him but I wasn't quite quick enough. We were mostly warmed up so we went straight to the trot and canter and then got to work. We ran through the BN B test that we'll show this weekend. That entry is tricky! I'm sure I'm overthinking it but it feels like a lot of bend changes in a short time. (Turns out... yes, you are supposed to go straight, bend left and then change the bend and diagonal and then bend right). So then we went back to the big arena to play. We picked up the canter and once I got a nice canter I just tried things. We did a decent half pass... no swapping! Then we did a shallow serpentine... no swapping. Then I tried a 3 loop, and no swapping!!!! Sure, it wasn't super pretty, but it wasn't half bad. We did it both ways too. We did a lengthen and then a 10 meter circle. Then we played with the canter to walk to canters, to try to sharpen those up a bit. Then we went back to trot and did some leg yields and trot half passes. Then we did some really nice lengthens/mediums and then we practiced the halt again. And then we quit. Because... he was super and I didn't want to over do it. 

We took a hack to the XC field and I let him have a canter and then pushed him into a gallop. He did stretch out and drop a gear, although he wasn't in super high gear. But it was a legit gallop. We went up the hill and then I reined him in. I wanted to take him to the lake and I was worried he might go for a swim as hot as it was and how sweaty he was, so... we went back to the trailer and swapped out the tack for the bareback pad and the halter bridle.  Then we trotted to the lake. He didn't want to go in though! Seriously Dan?! After we got naked even? Oh well. He wanted to go back, so... back we went. 

Besties

 Danny and I had a "mommy and Me" day. :) We started the day off with a visit from Freddie and Dan is sporting a nice new pedicure. He also now has stud holes in his front tootsies too. He made cranky faces but he also was being sweet with me. He was wiggling his nose on me a lot today. Hee hee. He makes me giggle. I tossed him out for about 15 minutes and then we went for a ride. We rode at home because of time but he was super! It was a good ride. We played again with all the things and I really think we're getting it. We did trot half pass and leg yields, turn on the forehands, canter half pass and leg yields, and even did some more counter canter. We also added back in practicing the canter walk canters and those got a hair better. Our downwards are really getting better. We also did some reinback and we practiced the medium trot to collected trot to halt. That's actually getting fairly good! We even had a few baby steps of piaffe! So yep, good ride. 

Then I hosed him off and turned him out for about 30 minutes so he could graze. And of course roll. So I hosed him off again before I put him in the trailer to head to Aiken for our vet appointment. It was a good appointment. We watched him lunge on a very small circle and he looked good, both up front and behind. So then we flexed him and he was negative! Even in the hinds, which last time, he was just about crippled! Great news! We then checked his neck and Keelin thought she felt some decreased motion at C4 but also worried about C7. So we scrubbed him up. He was hilarious. I guess it felt like a good massage because his lip would NOT quit wiggling. So then when she went to inject him... same as last time, he was super sensitive to the ultrasound probe and also the needle hitting the bone on one vertebra. This time it was C7. C4 didn't really phase him, so... hopefully

that means our hunch is right and this will really help him be happy again and willing to go into that right rein and bend more effectively. We also discussed how the time line with the last set of injections worked and how it's a lot more muscle that has to rehab and... it really does seem like the neck injections were the magic bullet. So, fingers crossed. It's a little worrisome that it hasn't been a full year yet, but... I'm also being VERY sensitive to it. And maybe now I can start doing more acupuncture and even put him on herbs and see if that helps extend the injections. 

 

So then we headed home.... he got turned out to graze for a bit and I even ate dinner before I fed, so he had time to relax. After dinner they all went back out and Mike and I took the dogs on a walk around the gallop lane. The horses all came along too. Danny and Funny were being silly... grooming each other.. then chasing each other... The horses kept following us... much to Mike's chagrin. Sillies! And I know it's probably not the case, but I swear Dan seemed happier. He wasn't pinning his ears.. he was seeking me out. It's almost like he was saying "Thanks for listening and fixing it".  :) Then we went to the other side of the property and they couldn't follow us anymore. And then we flushed a fawn out of the field and it went running amuck. Then Funny used that as an excuse to get the zoomies. Hee hee. Bonkers! Luckily Danny wasn't too bonkers as technically he's supposed to be in a stall, although more for cleanliness than activity.

So... no riding til Monday. Sadness!! But this means I can use all weekend to get the farm caught up. I've got to paint the arena mirrors, finish hanging the arena mirrors, spread poo, weed spray because some pokeweed is coming back up and I'm determined to stay ahead of it. I also need to get the electricity back up so I can use the middle field, and I desperately want to finish going through the boxes so the storage room and tool shed can be cleaned out some. So plenty to do! But still sadness about not riding. Oh well, we'll have Tuesday for sure and maybe, but doubtfully Wed, and then Thursday we'll head to stableview for champs! 

Busy Tuesday

I was SOOOOOO tempted to cancel my medical massage for my migraines today (at the last minute) and take Dan to Ashland. It was hot, but there was a nice breeze.... and it would have been a great day to dressage and then bareback to the lake for splashing! BUT... I had to work and do 5 horses this morning because of a scheduling snafu. And then that left me with almost 3 hours before my massage, but.... being that I was an hour from home and an hour from my appointment... I was stuck in no mans land. I should have cancelled, but... oh well. I got lunch and did some invoicing and then went and got the massage. Ouch! I'm more tender from that then from Dan kicking me in the gut. Sigh. I'm going to have to cancel my others I think. Especially because the injection seems to have cured my migraines. Anyways... I got home at 6ish and grabbed Dan! 

I had forgotten that the trailer wasn't hitched, and I was already hot and sweaty and ... honestly, I wanted to have time to finish the last Harry Potter book (again). Hee hee. So I opted to ride at home. I walked him up and left Funny and Dan in their stalls. She neighed once and then seemed fine. Dan walked politely with me, given that I had my crop. We had a good ride too. We did much more consistent half pass work at the trot and canter. We played with the counter canter and while it was hard and still a bit awkward, we held it. Even for a (albeit probably large) 3 loop. Both ways! We played with our simples again, but those have gotten a little frazzled again, so now it's probably time to go back to those. Sigh.. one step forward, two steps back. But it was a fun ride. 

Then when we got back, I decided to take Funny on a quick walk about so that Dan could cool down a bit more. We just walked to the lake and back. They were both good!

Chatt hills: Lessons learned

 Today was exciting! It was our first Novice since we came back to it. We picked the Chatt hills schooling show and we were able to school two weeks ago, so we had set ourselves up for success. 

We had great ride times so I didn't have to get up that early to get everything done in time. Dan got a bath and we headed to Chatt. I parked by the XC course and left him on the trailer while I walked XC. It... was kind of big. I mean, it was a lot of big tables and wide table type fences. There was also an open oxer, which I freakin' hate, but at least it had frangible pins. And it was rather small. There was a fun combo with two coops on either side of a pimple, but the coops were small. Then there was the stone wall and a HUGE up bank with a bendy line to another big table. And more big tables. And a big huge table off a sharp turn heading towards the "water". But at least the winged fence was at the finish line instead of fence 3. And... while they were big tables... and some of them were quite wide... I wasn't terrified! I mean... I was a little worried about a few of them but really not terribly so. So YAY!!! That's a win!

We warmed up nicely for dressage. He was a little bit braced and unwilling to unlock that right jaw and wouldn't quite soften the base of his neck, but... it wasn't terrible. We did some fancy moves to help unlock him. And it was nice because Tawn asked what test I was warming up for and when I told her novice, she laughed and said it looked like I was warming up for a first level test. Which, at first, made my day, but then... dang, only first level? I was aiming more for 2nd. Doh! But that's okay. It was a nice thought to hear that we were clearly doing more upper level work than just novice work. We ended up having a decent test. I felt like he was a little braced but not terrible. And our free walk had a couple of moments where he jigged or just about broke into the jig. So he was definitely not reaching down and out. And then our halt was awful. He almost halted and then danced around for about 6 seconds before finally halting square. But I figured that was at least good training. I felt like I should have maybe ridden him more in a 2nd level frame and sat the test so that he would soften but the directives ask for freedom to move forward and swinging of the back, so... I thought perhaps posting and letting him move forward was prudent. But then he got a little rushed and braced feeling. BUT.... then I watched the video and it was actually fairly decent. I didn't want to know how we did, but.... Jacel told me again. 30.5!  We were in first out of 6 people, including professionals! Yay!! Good boy Dan!

We had parked up on the hill and there was some decent breeze at times. We grazed a little.. then I put him back on the trailer and shopped a little... I bought an air vest. I think it's about time. Then a storm came up and it was fierce. They called the show temporarily and told us all to seek cover. I ended up taking Dan over to an empty corner of the barns and put him in a stall while it rolled over. It was quick and dramatic and then over. But they said there was probably going to be a 1 hour rain delay. I guess in my mind I felt like the one hour didn't include the time we just spent in the storm, so when the storm started I still had an hour before I rode, so my brain was thinking I had two hours before I would ride. I don't know.... I guess they also had some people scratch and they were trying to catch back up, so... we got caught up quicker than I expected. 

I had pulled Dan back out of the trailer and had him tied but then Kelli called so I figured I'd graze him while we chatted. Well... I don't know what got into him but he suddenly leapt straight up, spun, and did some quick circles around me, while leaping about. He managed to slide about 2 feet on his left hind and then held it up in the air for about 10 seconds. Like.. he wouldn't put it down! And then he finally did and was toe touching for about 4 strides. Then, before I could really do anything other than hang up with Kelli, he took off again. He was maybe scared, but of what, I have no clue. His tail was up, he was spinning, leaping, bucking, and just.... freaking out. Another lady who had her horse tied to the trailer near us asked us to leave, as we were freaking her horse out. Um..... not exactly in control here woman...  I was trying to get him to chill because the ground was so wet because of the down pour and I couldn't tell if he was still lame or not. But he just got worse! He flat out just had a spazz out. I basically walked him down towards the barns, leaping and spinning. I got him to the open parking area and tried to do a few lunges around me on that ground, since at least it wasn't slick. He did, and then a car came, so we had to move. I thought, since there were only two people warming up in the jump warm up, that maybe I could do a quick lunge in there just to get him to settle. He was starting to get to the point where I was afraid I'd lose hold of him. He was getting a little too unruly. So we started down the hill and he took off again and then spun at the end of the rope and kicked out and managed to kick me right in the stomach. I crumpled... thought I might vomit, and then took a minute or two to catch my breath. I was just sitting there thinking "Breathe.... don't puke... breathe....you're okay... am I okay?.... you're okay".... and meanwhile... now I'm on the ground and he's still in his mood. He stopped being stupid long enough that I noticed a Dad/guy at warm up looking at me. I didn't know what else to do so I just raised my hand... and luckily he started over. He asked if I was okay and I shook my head no. Then Lauren happened to walk by and I had just told her how much of a craphead he was being, so... I basically threw the lead rope at her and asked her to hold him. He spun around her a few times, which was embarassing and rude. She had the guy call the paramedics, but.... at that point, I was able to breathe and realized I wasn't really hurt... just had the wind knocked out of me. I stood up and was okay and so I took Dan back. I was PISSED! We walked off and he started to get ahead of me and I smacked him with the lead rope and backed him up. Then we walked off and I stopped and he didn't, so he got beat again. He finally started paying attention so I walked back to the trailers and put him in it... in time out. I took a minute to simmer down and then decided I would just put his saddle on and ride him. If I had to ride him for an hour before we jumped, so be it. I was not dealing with that anymore. So I started tacking up and then I hear them announce over the loud speaker that they were looking for me in stadium. Wait?? What about the rain delay? So then I panicked a little but.... got him tacked up. I put on his XC gear because while I had originally debated running him since the downpour was probably going to make the footing miserable, at this point I was pissed. If he could buck and rear and spin in the slick grass around me... he could gallop and jump in the mud. Butthole! Besides... after being 3 legged for 10 seconds I didn't think he could hurt himself worse. Sigh..

We warmed up for jumping over 3 jumps and he was perfect! I was pissed, so I was asking for the bold spots. And he obliged. We went in and had a decent round. I think one jump I got a little left behind and popped out of the saddle and the last fence I pinched with my knee and tipped forward. But the rest were pretty good. It was a quick run, but not too quick! We went clean! YAY! Double clean. The only one of the 6 in our group. :) 

At this point, he was back to normal Dan. We walked to XC with Jacel and had a good bit of a wait. The footing in warm up was slick as snot, so... we only did two XC fences and then just sat and waited. Jacel said that I would know if I should pull him off course. She said most importantly, if I felt him lose confidence, then it was time to pull up. Ahhhhh.... good point and GREAT way to think about it. For everything... whether it's footing related, course related, or just a bad day. If he's not getting more confident out there... pull up. And then it was our turn. The first fence was a little sticky and then the second one... I don't know what happened. A little of me, a little of him?? I leg yield him to the left because.. that's how I get his barrel loose and counteract the right drift. But I was also aiming to get off center so that we weren't jumping in the muck. And maybe I got more of a response then I expected... or maybe he was being cheeky... or maybe we just hadn't hit our mojo... I don't think he slid, but... he ran out. Little turd! We circled and he jumped it fine. And then the rest of the course was pretty good. I got him rolling and he was jumping most everything out of stride. A few we had some adds, but it was mostly footing related I think. He sort of jumped the up bank a bit tentatively, but.... that was a BIG up bank and I can't ride those very well. But the big tables all rode well. We did add to the winged jump at the end, but it was more of a bad distance than anything else. Even with the stop and being in the slop, we only had 2 points of time. :) 

So yeah.... while I'm pissed at myself for giving up first place with that stupid run out... it doesn't really count for anything... and it's a good lesson to learn. Don't overdo the leg yielding at the base of a fence! And don't take it for granted. That was NOT a fence I was worried about or scared of. So... glad I learned this lesson at a schooling show and not at Area Champs, or AECs!! And quite frankly, it was kind of exciting that while it was a fairly substantial (it seemed) novice course... I wasn't that nervous about it. Just the normal excited nervous. And I was able to ride it well, mostly. And Dan didn't get upset or unnerved about it either. I think it built both of our confidences! So yay!!! And too, considering it was our first novice back... not too shabby to have had one stop. Except... that sort of seems like a cop out, since it's not like it's our first ever novice. But, regardless, a mostly good day. 

Oh, and... I've also decided that it's time to go back to ground work. Zero Tolerance again. Liz and I were talking and she made a good point that Dan's behavior is quite unacceptable and she thinks it's related to him seeing me as a horse friend and buddy on the ground vs boss mare. He drags me around, he makes me move my feet, he threatens with his body language. And while he doesn't usually cross the line and it's more just rude behavior, then it suddenly escalates and I'm left with a kite who kicks me in the gut. Or like at Virginia, tries to paw me in the face, or Ocala... almost runs into a car. And those two times I blamed it on him being in a stall with no turn out. But... he was out all night last night... and only in the trailer or tied for the day. I grazed him some. So, he really doesn't have an excuse. And yes,  I could, and may still, get on him and take him for hacks at horse shows or give him a gallop a few days before every show, the point is... he still has to learn how to behave himself. This was unacceptable behavior and I didn't know how to shut it down. I could have been seriously hurt... other people or horses could have been hurt. Heck, he may have even hurt himself slipping in the mud. So... it's back to zero tolerance, ground work, and carrying a whip. Sigh... He's really not an ammy horse. Or, maybe he would be, had he not been started by an ammy, but... now I've created this monster. So... now I've got to fix it. And don't get me wrong. Other than his 15 minutes of meltdown... he was super. Yes, he was on the muscle, but we hang grazed a good bit and he stood tied to the trailer happily eating hay. I don't think he was aiming at me necessarily, I think I just happened to be closer than he realized. But I still wasn't able to shut down the antics, so....  boot camp! Hopefully I can just remember to stay vigilant on it and not slack off once he's being super good again for a while. 

Better Dressage

Well... it started out better! We had our second dressage lesson today and we talked about stuff and what the plan for the lesson was.... and our plan was to see how the counter canter was. She said that the counter canter would help strengthen his canter and help us prepare for lead changes. Yay! So we warmed up at the walk and trot and did some trot half pass, which was passable. Then we went to the canter. And Dan decided that while he could canter, and could even canter a tiny bit collected, he still felt really heavy on the right rein. We did manage to get him and me both from hanging on it. The whole half halt and release trick. Ha! Trick! You mean basic dressage?? That?! Yes.. it works. If I focus on making sure I release, then he can't hang on me either. Duh. But yes, much improved from Tuesday. :) We could actually canter like a proper horse and it actually felt really quite nice at times. Very bouncy and buoyant and if I dare say, sitting!!! 

So anyways, then we tried the counter canter. And dude.. it's hard! I mean, I'm pretty sure we can counter canter because we did what felt like a fairly decent 3 loop the other day. But perhaps it's because he was on the forehand and running through it at home. Anyways, he couldn't do it. He would swap in front or prop and break. OR.... he'd come off the rail and then careen madly back to the rail. It's that blasted right shoulder. I couldn't figure out how to hold him up off that right shoulder and keep him from falling onto it, while simultaneously asking him to go to the right. Sigh... We tried. We maybe sort of eeked out some miserable accomplishment of the loop pattern but with zero sense of balance or true dressage connection. Sigh. So then we tried a different approach. I believe Rana even said.... "Or we just skip 2nd level and skip the counter canter". Which, yeah... we've got those scores, but... don't we have to do that in 3rd too? Maybe not that stupid loop. Anyways, then we tried to half pass from quarter line to centerline and then leg yield back to the quarter line. That worked a little better and accomplished somewhat of the "counter canter loop" but.. yeah.... 

So anyways... it was a frustrating lesson because I *know* we can do it... we just couldn't today. Sigh.. Maybe we can't do it in that frame or that level of collection... maybe he just wouldn't? Maybe my aids were off?  But we do have our homework now.... working on that as well as working on the half pass to leg yield. 

And the other good part about the lesson is that Rana did say that she knew Dan could do a change. And she said if it weren't quite so hot and humid out and Dan wasn't quite so tired, we would try one real quick. But it was better left for another day. He was lathered and dripping, as was I, and he was blowing. He cooled off quickly and was grazing before he was even bathed, but still. A better bet. Especially because we were still a little bit in that frazzled place. But yay for getting close to doing them!!!